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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

9 Times Video Game Violence Went Too Far

Just like violence in any other medium, there are times in gaming
where certain bloody depictions cross the lines of taste. In many cases,
these specific games aren’t even that explicit aesthetically, but
go too far when the brutality itself is accompanied by dark subject
matter or delivered in a way that doesn’t gel with the enjoyable,
player-driven fun that most games strive for.

For the most part, video game violence can be pretty great. Being
able to blow up, shoot or stab an endless supply of faceless goons (or
faceless human players) provides a cathartic joy like nothing else, and
let’s face it, for as much flack as it gets, digital claret is hardly
the controversial topic the media has tried to make it out to be for
years now. We’ve watched onscreen violence in movies for almost a
century, so of course we’re going to enjoy it just as much when we’re
put in charge of the wanton destruction ourselves.

That said, you won’t be seeing the likes of Bulletstorm or Mortal
Kombat here. While those games are some of the goriest the industry has
ever seen, their violence is so ridiculous and so over the top that it’s
almost played for laughs – never quite touching a nerve on a
deeper level.

Instead, these are the top instances where a game just got ugly.
Either through sheer explicitness or because of underlying
implications, the violent nature of these titles didn’t make make you
scream in excitement or laugh in disgust – they only left an
unsavoury taste in your mouth that made you want switch the console off
altogether.

9. GTA V’s Torture Scene

For the most part, the Grand Theft Auto series has received way more
controversy than it probably deserves. While yeah, all of the games let
you wreak havoc in densely populated cities, taking down countless
civilians in the process, the game is so tongue-in-cheek and over the
top that the violence is rarely ever truly hard-hitting.

However, that’s not to say the franchise can’t get a bit ugly at
times when it wants to. Especially with the psychopathic Trevor being
introduced in the latest game, there were times during Grand Theft Auto
V’s story where the visceral violence went a touch overboard.

Specifically, the scene where Trevor interrogates an informant by
horrifically torturing him stands out as a particularly gruelling
moment. Teeth pulling, water-boarding and electrocutions are all
flaunted in this seriously gruesome set-piece. And because you’re
actually partaking in the torture yourself rather than just watching it
play out in a cutscene, beating a helpless guy to a near-death state in
an oppressive warehouse really wasn’t at all fun or exciting.

8. Hatred

Although Hatred probably didn’t live up to the controversy that
surrounded it ever since the release of its first trailer, the game
still provided quite an uncomfortable experience to play through.

Pushed with the directive to kill everyone you see, the title has you
taking the reigns of a rampaging serial killer out on a suicide mission
to eliminate as much of the population as he can before he’s taken down
himself. Although the isometric view doesn’t make the violence quite as
effective as it could have otherwise been, the oppressive colour scheme
and the lack of humour makes Hatred a grating and unenjoyable slog.

But even then, the violence would have been worse – and the game
would have scored higher on this list – if the main character wasn’t so
embarrassing. The brooding po-faced killer of Hatred comes across as a
cringe-worthy basement-dweller throwing a tantrum rather than an
intimidating and terrifying mass murderer, which makes his violent
monologues and outbursts that bit more ridiculous the more you play.

7. Tomb Raider’s Abundance Of Death Scenes

The Tomb Raider reboot was all about survival. Although we saw Lara
get beat up and killed off in increasingly extravagant ways as the game
went on, it kind of made sense because of how on the back foot the
character remained throughout the entire experience.

However, when the decidedly more fantastical Rise of The Tomb Raider
came out and featured just as many instances of Lara being murdered in a
variety of grisly ways, you just got the idea that Crystal Dynamics
loved seeing the character in as much pain as possible. I get it; it’s
supposed to be a way to show that Lara is a ‘strong character’ who can
bounce back from anything, but there’s more ways to do that than by just
constantly putting her through an uncomfortably violent wringer.

While other games such as The Last of Us also have outrageously
brutal death scenes, it often feels more justified or in-line with the
tone of their game worlds. The Last of Us tells the tale of an
unforgiving post-apocalyptic dystopia so it makes sense that even the
smallest mistake can result in a horrific end for the characters. The
latest Tomb Raider series doesn’t have that same tone or narrative
context though, and every time Lara is impaled or takes another beating
it feels at odds with the more magically-inclined and optimistic nature
of her universe.

6. Duke Nukem Forever’s Holsom Twins

Duke Nukem Forever as a whole was an ugly, ugly game. In tone,
content and visuals, there wasn’t one part of the entire experience that
felt fun in the colourful, offbeat way that the franchise had always
been until then. Although nudity and violence has always been prevalent
during the series, it at no point ever came across as mean-spirited or
offensive – it was always just in-line with the exaggerated movie
masculinity of the titular character.

However, Forever features one particular instance of violence that’s
emblematic of how out of touch the latest game actually is with what
made Duke so memorable in the first place. In one mission you find
yourself blasting through an organic alien lair (that takes more than a
little influence from Ridley Scott’s signature sci-fi horror film)
before stumbling across two familiar characters who so far in the game
have only been depicted as insulting (and outdated) sex objects.

When you find them, strung up and naked up in the heart of the ship,
they confess to Duke that they were forced to have sex with their alien
captors. A second later they’re ripped apart from the inside out while
Duke cracks a one-liner. The entire scene, like the whole game, is just
ugly – and the grimy visuals and dialogue make the violent end of the
characters way more mean-spirited than it ever should have been.

5. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Chemical Attack

After Modern Warfare 2 caused massive controversy with its
No Russian level that had the player gunning down an entire airport full
of civilians, it was pretty much expected that the next game in the
series would try to recapture that same feverish publicity with another,
equally controversial moment.

And of course, Modern Warfare 3’s controversial scene more than lived
up to expectations. During a cutscene, we watch as a child and her
mother walk down the streets of London, recording a family day out in
the English capital. However, the moment comes just after one of the
game’s big villains is able to get away with a huge amount of biological
weapons. Suddenly one of the trucks fitted with the explosive inside
parks up at the end of the street. None the wiser, the child runs to
play with the birds next to it, before the truck explodes, taking out
everyone in the vicinity.

Unfortunately, the new game didn’t quite understand what made the
original No Russian moment so memorable in the first place. Shooting up
that airport actually had significance to the game’s campaign, setting
up the title’s villain while showing the horrific extent that your
undercover character was willing to go to. Modern Warfare 3’s scene had
none of that context to prop it up, and overall comes across as an
emotionally manipulative moment that was only included for pure shock
value – being all the worse for it.

4. Hotline Miami 2’s Attempted Rape

For a game so colourfully retro, Hotline Miami is one of the most
violent releases of the past few years. As you dress up in various
sinister looking costumes, you’re tasked with going on huge rampages to
take down floors and floors of goons by stabbing, shooting or smashing
up anything – or anyone- in your way.

Knowledgeable of its own reputation, the sequel begins in a way that
one-ups everything seen in the already blood-soaked original. Dressed as
a grotesque serial killer in a pig mask, you make your way through a
house as you clear out all of the guys on the first floor. Once you’ve
finished off everyone in the first few rooms, you receive a call telling
you that a girl – your target – is in the upstairs bedroom.

As you proceed to murder everyone else in the room you’re forced to
fatally wound the half-naked girl herself. However, if that’s not
uncomfortable enough, as the dying woman squirms on the floor the only
way you can finish the scene is by pressing the action button – which
results in the killer attempting to rape her. Thankfully(ish) this scene
turns out to be part of a film shoot, and the director calls cut before
you see the woman actually be assaulted, but you don’t know this while
you’re playing it – and it makes for one of the most uncomfortable
opening levels ever made.

Maybe that was the point, but when you realise the whole thing isn’t
relevant to the game anyway, it feels like shallow shock factor just
for the sake of it.

3. The Entirety Of Manhunt 1 & 2

It was hard to choose which Manhunt game to put on here. The violence
in both is so unnerving but for distinctly different reasons, and as a
result it isn’t easy to say which took its video game action the
furthest. Instead, I’m just going to cover both.

While the violence in the original game is still ridiculously brutal,
it isn’t a patch on the over-the-top action of the second release.
However, the first title’s graphic nature is more affecting because of
the context behind it. Playing as a death-row prisoner, you’re forced to
take part in a series of snuff films for a psychopathic film producer.
It’s not much of a plot, and its really only a framing device to give
your horrific murders a small sense of purpose within the game, yet it’s
a grim enough setup that it makes each and every kill in the game feel
more hateful than it otherwise would have.

The second title’s narrative on the other hand is more conventional,
yet its violence puts to shame anything that featured in the first
attempt. The plastic bag in particular is used in a particularly
gruesome way, and the subsequent beatings your character gives those he
incapacitates can make for death scenes that you just can’t bring
yourself to watch.

2. Postal

For the most part, the Postal series is home to a rather silly set of
games. Like Hatred, the releases see a character “going postal” on a
small population, as they’re let loose to go nuts and annihilate any
unfortunate soul they comes across. Unlike Hatred however, Postal
features so many ridiculous ways to eliminate the townspeople that you
can rarely ever take it seriously.

However, even then there are a couple of moments where the cartoon
violence goes too far. As you dice up cops and urinate on dead
civilians, it doesn’t take long to realise that the violence in the game
isn’t funny or pushing boundaries at all – it’s boring. With no
background music or context to your killings, the violence becomes more
uncomfortable as you realise there’s no point or reward to the
slaughter. Because it’s not fun, the extravagant killing makes you
question what type of person you are, as you realise you could be doing
literally anything else with your time.

Even though the likes of Postal and Hatred are made to thrive off
controversy and to push buttons, it doesn’t automatically make them
significant pop culture “satire” or social commentary. More often than
not, games like this chase the spotlight by being as reprehensibly
violent as possible – which is all well and good if your game is
actually fun.

But the Postal series isn’t; it’s mindless anarchy executed in the most boring way possible.

1. Custer’s Revenge

Who would have thought that the game that took its player-driven
violence too far would have been the oldest on this list? Released at a
time before the great video game crash of the 80s where developers were
pushing literally any old toss out the door, Custer’s Revenge was one of
the most expensive games of all time when it first released. And if you
had paid top dollar for this game at the time, then you would have no
doubt been running back to the store for a refund the very next day.

The Atari 2600 release sees you take control of one General Custer, a
naked cowboy veteran who has to make his way past a barrage of arrows
so he can, uh… have sex with a tied up Native American woman. The
gameplay stays the same for the entire experience, and while the
on-screen violence isn’t particularly graphic (unless you count those
8-bit genitals – which, actually, I do) the implications and
questionable politics of the game can easily ruffle your feathers.

Not content with being crude, sexist and racist, the fact that your
entire aim in the game is to avoid incoming arrows so you can receive
your ‘reward’ – the 8-bit simulated sexual assault of a tied-up woman,
let’s not forget – it’s easy to see how the title manages to be more
offensive with its primitive violence than any of the seemingly tame in
comparison blood-soaked games on this list.

Which violent video game moments or scenes really went too far? Let us know in the comments!